Tips on Using Color

See image above by Joseph Albers. Stare at left image for 30 seconds, the look at black spot on right. You will immediately see its completely opposite color!

Here is the color tip:OK, so you've just purchased a bunch of quality oil paints or a box of colored pencils!

You know a bit about color but not much and you begin to wonder how to match up you new colors with the REAL colors of the scene you are painting?

Some of these real world colors you got are not even close to what mother nature is dishing up for you. There are some intense natural colors out there in the landscape you are viewing - and the colors you bought are not even close!

You notice - as you have keen observational skills and notice in the landscape, about ninety percent of what you are viewing are greys, subtle greys. But what about that bright orange and yellow sunset? You have nothing to match up to that in your toolbox.

This is unlike a child's idea of color where the sky is blue and the grass is green. All of us seem to have preconceived ideas with really seeing what the colors actually are! Can you re-create these colors from the colors you purchased?

You can't? But do you know how those colors relate to one another? So what you need is a little practice in mixing and placing one color next to it to evaluate the "true" color to notice the very subtle contrast.